1890's park banning MDing - joining National Registry

[Ohio Digger]

This park is where I hunt 95% of the time. A buddy told me he was told today by one of the park officers. They said we only have 2 months left. Supposedly it's going to be listed on the National Registry and that is one of the stipulations. I wanted to vomit when he told me that. It's a huge park with tons of potential still.

 

[GKMan]

That's is too bad. Is there any chance they were wrong? Have you seen the agreement? Sounds very likely that it is going prohibit detecting though.

 

[Rob (IL)]

I lost my 1800's park in town. The Forest Preserve District of Cook County banned detecting last year and we lost more than 68,000 acres of wilderness

 

[Habanero]

I'm so sorry to hear about this; it would be like having a new city ordinance banning detector use in my area so I can only imagine. Anyone ever get the feeling that we are being phased out sometimes?? Too bad there isn't some billionare that detects as a hobby pouring dollars into lobbying in Washington on our behalf to change things for the better.

 

[Ohio Digger]

I wonder how much the metal detector manufacturers are concerned about the never-ending banning of MDing. People are losing hunting grounds continuously. It starts adding up. Are any of these manufacturers involved in trying to stop this trend or at least educate before its too late? Maybe the we're just a drop in the hat compared to the big picture.

 

[MNCoinhunter]

I wonder how much the metal detector manufacturers are concerned about the never-ending banning of MDing. People are losing hunting grounds continuously. It starts adding up. Are any of these manufacturers involved in trying to stop this trend or at least educate before its too late? Maybe the we're just a drop in the hat compared to the big picture.

The fact that the manufacturers can't even be bothered to include a post-it sized piece of literature on detecting ethics with each product they sell, says a lot about how much they care about laws being changed. If they can't sell them here anymore, they will do just as well overseas. I'm sure that Charles Garrett and his son have more than enough money to lend a voice to the cause. Pretty quiet down there in Texas wouldn't you say ??

 

[Critterhunter]

The fact that Garrett is (I think?) sponsoring a certain show that makes us in this hobby look like nut jobs is cause for great concern. Seems they are trading sales "right now" for what might happen down the road with sales when more places are banned to detecting, and also with more private land owners not wanting people on their property splashing in bird baths or crawling dog houses.

I've already read of a few people who said their private land access has now been denied due to these shows, and I can only expect that for every story we do hear about things like this, there are many more we don't hear from those who like to fly under the radar.

Like I said before, these manufacturers should have one more check box on their warranty card registration the buy needs to check off- "Were you shown how to properly recover targets and also about hunting ethics by your dealer?"

And if the dealer didn't show them a short video on using a probe to pop shallower targets, or digging 3 sided plugs and such, and to hide your activity of such things as good as possible when recovering the target, then if enough customer warranty cards come in from a dealer who don't have this box checked as "YES", the dealer should get a warning that if they don't start doing this they may lose their contract to sell brand X detectors.

The manufacturers could easily provide a short video the customer has to watch BEFORE they can make the purchase, and then have to perhaps take a short test with questions to see if they understand such things on proper target recovery, using an apron to haul out all trash, and etc.

Yea, I don't like being "policed", but if we don't do it ourselves the government will be happy to step in and do it for else, which probably means a total ban to detecting in some places like we are seeing now.

 

[Anasazi]

Bummer it is betting bad all over these days!

 

[gear box]

It isn't always a newbe doing the damage. There are a whole bunch a-butts who call themselves responsible detectorists but their actions prove otherwise. A video or card can't hurt but the seasoned detectorist already knows the rules and proper etiqute but don't follow the rules. The new guy's can be taught the rules but if you already know them but don't abide by them no video or rules card will help. I do agree that the manufactures should do more, a simple card in the box won't do it. They need to put money and time in, contacting cities and counties and states that enact laws that infringe on detecting, explaining and asking them to reconsider the flat out banning of detecting. Find a way to approach the subject and work with both parties. It's their livlehood. It's a hobby for us.
HH Gary

 

[marcomo]

Critter, your intentions are good. But even beyond the big brother intrusiveness, what you are suggesting is a bureaucratic nightmare that will never happen. Not to mention that manufacturers have a financial incentive to increase their numbers of dealers, not decrease them.

Also most detector sales are made online, not in person. So how could an online dealer make sure that someone watched a training video?

The sad truth is that there will always be a small percentage of the population who are indifferent about how their inconsiderate actions affect others.

People who walk their dogs in public areas and don't pick up after them. Drivers who cut you off in traffic. Metal detectorists who leave holes unfilled and hunt in public places with big shovels.

The difference is no one will ever suggest banning dog walking because somebody doesn't pick up after Fido. No one will suggest banning driving because someone drives like a jerk.

But one person leaving a bunch of holes in a public place can and has caused metal detecting to be banned.

My argument against Diggers is not that it will bring a lot of new people into the hobby which it has.

My argument is the way it brings them into the hobby.

Hey anything must go in metal detecting since these guys act the fool and look at all the good stuff they find in just a half hour's time.

And that common date wheat penny dug out of the ground is worth $40 so man someone can make a ton of money in just a few half hours of doing this.

But beyond all that, the fact that they can't be bothered (at least in the handful of episodes I watched) to spend a few seconds to show all the newbies they are creating how to properly recover a target bothers me the most.

I posted about this over on the Garrett AT Pro forum and most of the other posts disagreed with me. Multiple posters raved about how much they enjoy the show and how cool King Dufus and the Dorkmaster are. That the stupid things they say and do on the show should be overlooked because the show is made for entertainment and not education. And the manufacturers all put the detecting code of ethics in with their detectors anyway so why should the show have any responsiblity to show anyone how to detect correctly.

But reality shows are edited to never be reality. And while this show may be profitable for the producers and sponsors, it's a negative for the hobby and it will cause more sites to be put off-limits to metal detecting.

Without Diggers there would still be a few morons leaving divots and craters where they detect. But with Diggers the numbers increase exponentially.

 

[Rob (IL)]

http://ofallon.patch.com/articles/o-fallon-metal-detector-hobbyists-restricted-must-trn-over-finds

 

[Ohio Digger]

Wow that's messed up. I guess it could be tough to enforce it though unless they had someone checking your finds when you were done. Someone had commented on that article saying its illegal for them to confiscate things you find at a "public" park. How much truth is in that?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Wow, that's a great article. Somehow this issue of what-to-do-with-metal-detectors comes up for this city to have to decide on. Gee I wonder how.

And I love this line:

"State law requires found objects to be turned over the entity that owns the land where they were found,"

Actually, that's probably not far from the legal truth. An object in a park afterall, is a "park feature". And just like how you can not help yourself to the tan bark, the roses, or the swing set, so too does objects (especially if they can be considered 'cultural heritage' ) be considered owned by the entity on whos land you found it. I mean ...... isn't that the whole legal beef, afterall, that Florida claims for treasures found in their waters? There's nothing to legally stop that from also applying to a singular coin or ring (although I highly doubt anyone cares about those things).

Imagine this: you walk in to your city hall with a gold coin worth $10,000 that you found in "their" park. You hold it up, tell them where you got it from, and say "Can I keep it for my own enrichment and pleasure, or does it belong to the city?" I bet there's lawyers who would indeed come up with the same legal logic as that city of O'fallon did.